How much do you know about the custom of begging for cleverness on Tanabata in Chongming, Shanghai?

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the romantic Tanabata, and there are various unique festival customs in all parts of China. Then today's Old Yellow Calendar will introduce you to the custom of begging for cleverness on Tanabata on Chongming Island, which is known as the "gateway to the Yangtze River" and "Yingzhou in the East China Sea".

Chinese Valentine's Day has recorded in several volumes of Chongming County Records and Customs since the middle of the Ming Dynasty that the traditional custom on this island is mainly "begging for ingenuity", that is, begging for wisdom and artistic ingenuity from the Weaver Maid in Heaven. In the Records of Chongming County in different periods, several methods of begging for cleverness on Tanabata were recorded.

For example, there is a clever way in the county annals: "It is clever to hide a spider in a box, open your eyes every day, and be organized." The way to do it is: put a spider in the box on holiday night and cover it. When I opened it early the next morning, it was a coincidence that the spider's web was so clear, and it was a coincidence that it was messy.

The Records of Chongming County in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty recorded: "On July 7th, a young child got his hands on Impatiens, which was called begging for cleverness." There is another method, please see the 1989 edition of Chongming County Records and Customs: "On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a blank piece of paper is spread on the ground, and it is said that you can get the powder scattered by the weaver girl in the sky, and then you can get wisdom by painting it. This move is called' begging for cleverness'."

Another custom in Chongming Chinese Valentine's Day in the old days was to hold a "melon and fruit festival" to worship the Weaver Maid. On the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, young women in families or clans set up tables and incense tables in the courtyard, put melons, fruits and proper fruit on the table, and after pious incense burning, they sat around and tasted the festival while facing the Vega constellation, praying for wisdom and dexterity, and the needlework was skillful; Or pray for a happy marriage and early birth.

In addition, there are many kinds of festive foods on Tanabata all over the country, which are collectively called proper fruit. Chongming's holiday food is "baked", or "Kao". The Republic of China edition of Chongming County Records and Customs: "Make thin noodles, cut into boiling oil, make them crisp, and eat them as Kao, with the same sound and skill." At present, there is still a folk song "On July 7th, cook something to eat" in urban and rural areas.

In the old days, it was popular to bake and eat roast on the Beggar's Day. Every year it was a Sunday, and almost every family in the house fried and roasted with dry noodles and oil pan. Adults are busy, and children are waiting for them. When they are out of the pot, they take it and put it in their mouth, without worrying about scalding it. It tastes better when it is hot.

In the evening, families clean up the courtyard, put baked fruits and vegetables on the table, sit around and enjoy them, look up at the sky from time to time, identify and point to the Altair and Vega on the edge of the Milky Way, and wait for the legendary miracle: the annual Magpie Club of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.

eating and baking on tanabata still exists today. Only in recent years, in order to save effort and trouble, many people no longer make it themselves, but buy it directly and go home, but there are still many people who eat roast. First, this is an ancestral custom and should be passed down; What's more, "eating roast" is homophonic with "begging for cleverness" and "getting clever", just as people say that eating fish every year means "more than one year" and eating vegetable heads means "getting rich". Everyone is willing to keep the good luck.

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